Everybody's asleep

What you first need to know is how windy it is outside right now.

We’re on the second floor of a narrow wood frame house on a hill, and the wind is ferocious. It’s been getting colder lately, and we had a brief bout of hail today, but my wife is sound asleep in the other room, and Mia is yawning in the crook of my arm, and we don’t feel the cold at the moment.

There haven’t been many updates to the blog as of late, so let me first apologize to the handful of you that have faithfully checked daily for news or cute pictures. Who knows why the muse comes or leaves, but lately, the urge to write just hasn’t been there. There haven’t been many ‘firsts’ to speak of that need to be shouted from the rooftops, and I’m getting a better sense of what parents do. To summarize the past week, there’s been quite a bit of diaper changing, more than a few late nights spent rocking her in our arms. Mandatory afternoon naps, the occasional bath, trips to the vet for Walters foot (not better yet, but on the mend), and that’s pretty much it.

Once in awhile either Corrie or I get a bout of cabin fever, perhaps me more than her. I had thought that time spent at home would be full of productive chores and minor projects, maybe even just a chance to read a hundred books before going back to work. It’s been all that at times, but today was something different. There was no urge to fix that busted light bulb on our front porch, or organize our train wreck of a basement. No need to bake or cook any extravagant deserts. There are no movies that I’m dying to go see, the book I’m working on is decent, but hardly a page-turner. Nothing on TV.

There’s just Mia stretching and yawning in my left arm as I sit on the couch. Walter is sound asleep on his blue chair, faint music on in the background, and that wind outside just won’t let up. Her back arches and tiny arms stretch out as far as they’ll go, bumping my nose at the height of their reach. Her leg sticks out defying gravity even though she’s sound asleep. Little fingernails, tiny feet that just call out to be tickled.

Soon enough it’ll be time to flip the laundry, heat up some dinner, change another diaper and walk the dog, but it’s cold outside right now, and she’s so warm nestled in my arm. So I’m just going to take another moment before getting up, maybe mark this on the blog. So many things Corrie and I want, both for ourselves and for her. So many things we’re working towards, a lifestyle we’ve both imagined far off in the future. So many things that need to get done. Just not yet. She’s still asleep, and I get to be the dad, holding his daughter, watching out for the family.